India ranks worse than comparable BRICS countries in achieving UN development goals, better than Pak, B'desh

By Rajiv Shah
A high-profile study, carried out by well-known international health journal, “Lancet”, has calculated that India’s health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ranking is a poor 127th among 188 countries it has analyzed to find out how well are different countries across the globe are doing for achieving the United Nation’s goals.
Analyzing 37 health-related SDGs out of 50, the study, titled “Measuring progress and projecting attainment on the basis of past trends of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries: an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016”, finds that the only consolation for Indian policy makers is, two of the immediate neighbours, Pakistan and Bangladesh, rank 148th and 155th respectively.
Interestingly, India’s southern neighbour, Sri Lanka, is found to be ranking far better than India, 70th. SDGs are to be achievable by the year 2030.
At the same time, the study, which has been funded by the Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, notes that among the comparable BRICS (acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations, India ranks worst. Brazil ranks 67th, China 74th, Russia 103rd, and South Africa 122nd.
The UN's SDGs are grounded in the global ambition of “leaving no one behind”. “Understanding today's gains and gaps for the health-related SDGs is essential for decision makers as they aim to improve the health of populations”, says the “Lancet” study, adding, “As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016), we measured 37 of the 50 health-related SDG indicators over the period 1990–2016.”

Projecting indicators for the year 2030, the study says, “We used standardised GBD 2016 methods to measure 37 health-related indicators from 1990 to 2016”, adding, among special indictors it used are universal health coverage (UHC) measures, which focuses on coverage of essential health services, personal health-care access and quality for several non-communicable diseases.

Measuring each country on a scale of 0–100, the study says, “Globally, the median health-related SDG index was 56·7 in 2016 and country-level performance markedly varied, with Singapore (86·8), Iceland (86·0), and Sweden (85·6) having the highest levels, and Afghanistan (10·9), the Central African Republic (11·0), and Somalia (11·3) recording the lowest.”
The study finds that India’s health-related SDG is 39, a slight improvement over the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) index (36), set by the UN in in the year 2000, achievable by 2015.
On a scale of 100, with 0 representing the worst levels from 1990 to 2030, India’s index was found to be 36 for mortality due to exposure to forces of nature; 22 for maternal mortality ratio; 67 for skilled birth attendance; 21 for neonatal mortality; 74 for prevalence of 15 neglected tropical diseases; and 39 for mortality due to a subset of non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases).
The index further shows that the country’s index, on a scale of 100, was 81 for family planning need met with modern contraception methods; 54 for adolescent birth rate; 38 for universal health coverage index; 15 for mortality attributable to household air pollution and ambient air pollution; and 11 for mortality attributable to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
The study notes, “Between 2000 and 2016, notable improvements in the UHC index were achieved by several countries, including Cambodia, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Laos, Turkey, and China; however, a number of countries, such as Lesotho and the Central African Republic, but also high-income countries, such as the USA, showed minimal gains.”

Comments

How Hindutva and the Taliban mirror each other in power and ideology

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The recent visit of Taliban-appointed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India and the warm reception extended to him by the Modi government have raised questions about India’s foreign policy direction. The decision appears to lend legitimacy to the Taliban regime, which continues to suppress democratic aspirations in Afghanistan.

Justice for Zubeen Garg: Fans persist as investigations continue in India and Singapore

By Nava Thakuria* Even a month after the death of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore under mysterious circumstances, thousands of his fans and admirers across eastern India continue their campaign for “ JusticeForZubeenGarg .” A large digital campaign has gained momentum, with over two million social media users from around the world demanding legal action against those allegedly responsible. Although the Assam government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has arrested seven people, and a judicial commission headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court to oversee the probe, public pressure for justice remains strong.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Creative destruction? The myth of ‘better capitalism’ behind the 2025 Economics Nobel

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak * The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr , Philippe Aghion , and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth .” According to the Nobel announcement on October 13 , one half of the prize goes to Professor Joel Mokyr “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress ,” while the other half is shared by Professors Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction .”

Search This Blog